Nancy Scarrow — a spark for inspiring employee spirit at UFV

Have you ever dressed up for Halloween at UFV? Taken part in a festive holiday sweater contest? Enjoyed meeting up with colleagues and friends at the annual employee barbecue? Played in the employee golf tournament? Participated in the Fitness Challenge (now known as Strive to Thrive)?

It’s activities like those that help foster community spirit amongst UFV employees, making campus a fun place to come to work. And when employees feel good about their workplace, that leads to a better experience for everyone, including students.

For 37 years, Nancy Scarrow was the driving force behind a myriad of team-building and morale-boosting experiences at UFV. Her determination to foster a culture that keeps employees engaged ran like a subtle filament throughout the university, threading us all together and making us stronger as a group of employees.

She remained a constant presence in a department that morphed from Personnel into Employee Relations and later Human Resources. When she started as a 19-year-old clerk, it was a four-person team. She retired recently from her role as the operations manager for the now 22-person department.

She’s been the dynamo behind dressing up. The Energizer Bunny of Strive to Thrive. The mover and shaker behind the retirement dinner and the long-service and employee excellence events. The person synonymous with good times at the golf tournament.

And on May 29, she wrapped up her time as a full-time UFV employee, and began her retirement. Her formal job included managing day-to-day operations of the HR team, but it’s the community-building initiatives that will be among the most memorable parts of her legacy.

Will that unique UFV spirit continue on without her? Nancy hopes so!

She’s relieved that Stacie Dixon, UFV’s health, disability, and wellness coordinator, has agreed to take over the Strive to Thrive program, which offers employees incentives, advice, and activities to encourage a healthy lifestyle. It also builds community through activities such as lunchtime walks, weekend hikes, or bike rides.

Nancy is looking to other employees, including Erika Fernandez who has taken on the role of operations coordinator, to continue fostering a positive culture.

She’s sad that the employee golf tournament was cancelled this year due to budget challenges after more than four decades.

And she hopes that employees will continue to embrace the fun opportunities such as the Halloween luncheon, retirement events, Strive to Thrive activities, and welcome events.

“People love the human touch,” Nancy says when asked what inspired her to organize so many special activities over the decades.

Nancy has worked for several leaders of what is now called Human Resources, starting with Barry Bompas, who was famous for instilling a positive energy into employee relations.

“Barry always said not to apologize for being good to people,” she recalls. “He wanted our team to be a place where people felt comfortable going to get help. I learned so much from him by the example that he set of being fair, super nice, and genuinely concerned for all employees. He would often pose this question to me: ‘What’s the right thing to do, Nancy?’”

What kept her going? The positive reactions of her fellow employees.

“There can be negativity in the workplace, especially during difficult times. But if you get a super nice email, or a card thanking you, or have one good thing happen it makes all the difference,” she says.

Barry’s willingness to take part in the silliness also stuck with her.

“Whatever theme we came up with for a group Halloween costume, he was all in. One year I handed him a Minnie Mouse costume, and he wore it all day, even in some very serious meetings.”

Although the Human Resources team has grown tremendously during her 37 years at UFV, many people, especially long-term employees, still saw Nancy as the first point of contact. She never turned them away, helping them if she could, or redirecting them to a colleague who was more knowledgeable about their question.

She and Barry were the masterminds behind the first version of UFV’s Fitness Challenge, launching it in 1998 and inviting employees to walk or exercise the equivalent of 600 km. The initiative was called Walk to San Francisco. They sourced prizes from suppliers and employees who offered their vacation homes for prize trips. The duo won the university’s Outstanding Achievement award in 1999 for their efforts and the Fitness Challenge continued until about 2010.

“We knew it was popular, but you never realize how popular something is until you take it away,” Nancy notes. She found a way to relaunch it as Strive to Thrive in the early 20202s and now more than 350 employees participate. She even taught employee fitness classes over Zoom in 2020 to keep employees motivated during the pandemic.

Nancy is one of many UFV employees who took the Office Careers program (now known as Applied Business Technology) and then found a career at UFV.

Starting out as a nervous 19-year-old, she gained confidence as the years went by.

“Early on, I was really nervous about speaking up, but with experience and age comes wisdom.”

As she walked out the door to her new life of retirement a few days after one last group walk in late May, she looked back on decades of success. She’s going to take it easy for the next few months, but don’t be surprised if you see her back on campus in auxiliary roles in the future. For Nancy, a place like UFV is hard to walk away from forever.

As UFV continues to evolve, Nancy hopes employees will continue finding ways to build connections, celebrate one another, and create the sense of community that has long been part of campus life.